Movable wall surface covering and apparatus and process



S. GERMAN Dec. 22, 1970 MOVABLE WALL SURFACE COVERING AND APPARATUS ANDPROCESS Filed Sept. 19, 1968 A v n D 5 f 9 A" Z p w L Q J 4% r w a 5 1 Ad 4 1 L 3 3 3 J 3 3 o w\ V/ 3 v/ \G/ M4 2.

United States Patent M 3,548,525 MOVABLE WALL SURFACE COVERING ANDAPPARATUS AND PROCESS Sidney German, 121 3rd St., Chelsea, Mass. 02150Filed Sept. 19, 1968, Ser. No. 760,788 Int. Cl. G091 4/24 US. C]. 40-8616 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Transparent panel segments whichare suitable for covering the walls of a building form a segmentedreceptacle panel for a design bearing web which extends upward throughsaid receptacle between the segmented panel and the structure of thebuilding and a plurality of said segmented vertical panels areinterlocked and interconnected to form a wall covering. Said designbearing web is carried and supported between two roller mechanisms, oneof each being located at the top and bottom of said segmented panel.Drive means connected to the top roller of the top roller mechanismserves as a means for changing the decorative designs of said segmentedpanel and the wall covering by winding up the design bearing web andshifting the exposed portion of said design bearing web to position anew portion of said web bearing a different design behind said segmentedfront member of said segmented panel.

This invention concerns an apparatus and process for a movable wallsurface covering for the outside walls of buildings or the inside wallsof the rooms of said buildings and more particularly a movabletransparent printed film located in a transparent receptacle which isattached to said walls.

One of the objects of this invention is to provide a process forchanging the printed designs on the outside surface of a building or aprocess for changing the printed designs on the surface of the walls ofa room in a building.

Another object of this invention is to provide an apparatus for changingthe printed designs on the outside surface of a building by means of aset of rollers and printed film.

The objects of this invention are accomplished by attaching two rollersat the top and bottom of a interlocking plurality of long one-unit,segmented, plastic, transparent. channel shaped, interconnectedreceptacle, wall panels which are composed of a series of short,separate, plastic, rectangular, receptacle, wall panel sections, whichwere previously mounted on the wall of the building. A transparent filmwith a printed design on its outer surface is wound around and connectedto both top and bottom rollers so that by rolling up or winding up thetop roller it is possible to wind up a given length of film which islocated in the one-unit receptacle and has one printed design and tobring into place another length of film which has another differentprinted design on its outer surface so that the printed designs on theoutside side walls of the building can easily be changed. At night, setsof lights are switched on so that the printed design is more easilynoticed since the light passes through the transparent film. Thetransparent receptacles are interconnected with each other so that dustand dirt do not get on the printed transparent film and so that anintegrated, interlocking, wall covering system structure is formed.

FIG. 1 is a top plan view of the apparatus for changing the printeddesigns on the outside walls of buildings or on the inside walls ofrooms of said building.

FIG. 2 is a side plan view of the apparatus shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a side plan view of the transparent front wall of thetransparent receptacle which faces the outside.

3 ,548,525 Patented Dec. 22, 1970 Referring to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 thereis shown a top plan view and a side plan view respectively of theapparatus for changing the printed designs on the outside walls ofbuildings or rooms in which numeral 1 designates the channel shaped,plastic, transparent, rectangular, receptacle, wall panel section whichconsists of side walls 19 which can be either transparent or painted soas to be non-transparent and also the transparent front wall 1B throughwhich can be seen the printed film and the partial back Walls 15 and 15Awhich form inwardly extending flanges or extensions which interlock withadjacent outwardly extending flanges 22-22A of the other two transparentreceptacles 20, 16 one on either side of said first transparentreceptacle 1 and which locks said two other transparent receptacles 16,20 in place as Well as receiving a nut 5 and bolt 4 through a hole insaid flanges 15 and 15A which firmly attaches said alternate firsttransparent receptacle Wall panel segment and its two intermediateadjoining transparent receptacle wall panel segments, by means of saidflanges to the outer walls 24 of the building or to the walls 24 of aroom in said building. The two side wall members 19 of the wall panelsegments 1 are connected at one end to the transparent front member 1B,which is spaced apart from the wall of the building to form areceptacle, wherein is located the printed film or web, along one pairof its opposite side edges and are connected at their other end toflanges so that the side wall members and their associated flanges ofsaid first alternate panel segment 1 are joined to the side wall membersand their associated flanges of the second and third intermediate panelsegments 16, 20 so as to be interlocked and interconnected by thefastening means or bolts and nuts.

The top roller 3 of the two rollers is keyed on a shaft 25 which isattached and turns in ball bearing pillow blocks 26, 26A located in theside walls of transparent receptacle 1. By means of a hand crank (notshown) or by means of an electric gear winding motor (not shown) whichis properly grounded to prevent electric shock to human beings and isconnected to the single unit shaft 25 on which are mounted all of thetop rollers, said top rollers can be turned and the printed films orwebs wound up at the same time. The bottom roller of the bottom rollermechanism is similar to the top roller of the top roller mechanism inthat it consists of a roller mounted in suitable supporting elements.The transparent film 2 with its printed design on its outer surface iswound around and connected to rolls of film on both top and bottomrollers 3, 3A (FIG. 2) so that by rolling up or winding up the toproller 3, it is possible to wind up a given length of film 2 having oneprinted design and to bring into place another length of film which hasanother different printed design on its outer surface so that theprinted designs on the outside Walls of the building can easily bechanged. At night sets of lights 6 attached to socket board 7 which ismounted on an electrically insulating material which is attached to thewall of the building, are switched on so that the light passes throughthe printed film and the printed design is more easily noticed. Thetransparent receptacles are interconnected at their lengthwise ends aswell as their sidewise ends so that dust and dirt can not get on theprinted transparent film. It would be possible to automatically wash thewalls of said transparent receptacles by allowing a fine pure, harmless,clean, city tap water spray 41 at the top floor of the building suppliedby a pipe 40 with tiny holes which extends around the entire top floorperimeter of the building to hit upon the outside surface of thebuilding and run down the sides of said building, thus the water wouldwash all of the receptacles on its way down the side of the building andno manual washing would be necessary.

FIG. 3 shows a side plan view of the transparent front Wall of thetransparent receptacle which faces outside and numeral 1B designates thefront wall of a first transparent receptacle wall panel segment 50,which is attached to the outer side walls 24 and has a transparent film2 passing through it and said front wall 1B has tongues or projections34A and 34 which fit into grooves 35A and 35 of receptacles 52 andreceptacle 57 respectively at points 33 and 33A so that the receptacles50, 57, 52 are interlocked in a lengthwise direction at their fronttransparent walls, at their top and bottom edges so that no dirt anddust can get onto the plastic film. The plastic film 2 may consist of aflexible transparent or translucent non-breakable type of plastic filmsuch as unoriented or oriented safe polypropylene or safe acrylic orother safe plastic materials suitable for building purposes and thetransparent receptacles may consist of safe polypropylene or safenon-breakable acrylic or other safe plastic materials suitable forbuilding purposes, preferably extruded to form said panel segments. Itis necessary to use safe plastic materials suitable for buildingpurposes in order to prevent hurting human beings.

It is necessary for the purpose of safety and to prevent the receptaclesfrom ever coming loose and falling to the ground from the outsidesurface of the building and thus prevent hurting some human being thatthe receptacles are riveted together by rivets 50 at their flanges and15A so they are joined in a widthwise direction and also rivets 50 mayjoin two receptacles in a lengthwise direction. If the top receptacleflange is positioned properly in relation to the bottom receptacleflange so that even greater safety is made possible. Preferably, thetransparent receptacles are bolted or riveted together according to theknown prior act. Thus the transparent receptacles are firmly joinedtogether by rivets in a lengthwise as well as a widthwise direction soall of the receptacles are interconnected for greater strength andsafety to form an integrated wall covering system structure.

Therefore, this invention includes all modifications within the spiritand scope of the following claims:

I claim:

1. A wall covering for buildings comprising,

(I) A plurality of vertical Wall panels, each panel comprising (A) afront member and a pair of side members,

(B) said front member being transparent and spaced from said wall toform a receptacle,

(C) said side members connecting said front member to said wall (D) saidside members being joined with side members of adjacent panels,

(II) each of said panels further comprising (A) a plurality ofrectangular segments having top,

bottom, and side edges,

(B) each of said segments having means along its top and bottom edgesfor joining the segments with adjacent segments of said panel,

(C) each of said segments having means along its side edges for joiningthe segments with adjacent segments of adjacent panels,

(III) a display bearing web between said wall and said front member andextending between the top and bottom of said panel,

(IV) means for changing the display of said panel and its displaybearing web and thereby changing the display of said wall covering andsaid walls of said building whenever desired,

(V) means for illuminating the panel and its display bearing web andthereby illuminating said wall covering and said walls of said building.

2. The wall covering for buildings provided in claim 1 in which themeans for changing the display of said wall panel and its displaybearing web and thereby changing the display of said wall coveringcomprises a first top roller mechanism having a roller mounted on ashaft in supporting elements and drive means connected to said shaft forrotating the roller and its associated roll of web to wind up and move afirst predetermined length of web bearing a first decorative design areaout of the vertical panel and bring a second predetermined length of webbearing a second different decorative design area into place behind thetransparent front wall of said panel, the decorative design bearingtranslucent web which is attached to a roll of web mounted on the rollerof a. second bottom roller mechanism and is conveyed and extendsupwardly in said vertical panel of said wall covering between thetransparent front wall of said segmented panel and the structure of saidbuilding and is connected to a roll of web mounted on the roller of saidfirst top roller mechanism, said second bottom roller mechanism having aroller on a shaft mounted in supporting elements.

3. The wall covering for buildings provided in claim 1 in which themeans for illuminating the decorative design of said panel and itsdesign bearing web comprises a series of electric sockets bearingelectric light bulbs mounted on an electrical insulating material whichis mounted on the structure of the building.

4. The wall covering for buildings as provided in claim 1 in which saidmeans for joining the panel segments along their side edges withadjacent panels and for attaching said segments to said wall comprises aplurality of outwardly extending flange elements angularly connected tosaid vertical parallel side wall members of the segments of alternatepanels in said plurality of wall panels comprising said wall covering, aplurality of inwardly extending flange elements, angularly connected tosaid vertical parallel side wall members of said segments of theremaining intermediate panels of said plurality of wall panelscomprising said wall covering, said outwardly extending flange elementsof said segments of said alternate panels extending behind said inwardlyextending flange elements of said segments of the remaining intermediatepanels, whereby said flanges of adjacent wall panel segments overlapeach other to interlock said wall panel segments along their verticalside wall edges, said Wall panel segments are interconnected at saidflange elements by fastening means which join said wall panel segmentstogether, said fastening means also attach said wall panel segments tosaid wall and means for joining the alternate segments of said panelalong their top and bottom edges with adjacent segments of said panelcomprises tongue or projecting portions and means for joining theremaining intermediate segments of said panel along their top and bottomedges comprises groove or recessed portions, said tongue and grooveportions of said alternate and intermediate segments of said panelengage with each other to interlock said segments along their top andbottom edges.

5. The wall covering for buildings as provided in claim 1 in which thewall panel segments comprise safe plastic, polymeric, resinous, materialsuitable for building purposes which are heated and shaped to form saidwall panel segments.

6. The wall covering provided in claim 5 in which the wall panelsegments comprise safe plastic, polymeric, resinous materials suitablefor building purposes which are extruded to form said wall panelsegments.

7. The wall covering provided in claim 1 in which the means for changingthe display of said panel and display bearing web comprises a means forchanging the printed or drawn decorative designs and decorativeillustrations of said panel and its web further comprising a means forshifting the exposed portion of said design or illustration bearing webto position a new portion of the web bearing a different design orillustration behind said front member of said segmented panel.

8. The wall covering provided in claim 1 in which said wall panelsegments are positioned so that first and second panel segments locatedon the top and bottom edges of a third panel segment are interlockedwith said third panel segment, one top tongue 01 projecting portion ofsaid third panel segment engaging with the groove or recessed portion ofthe bottom edge of said first panel segment and the other bottom tongueor projecting portion of said third panel segment engaging with thegroove or recessed portion of the top edge of said second panel segment.

9. The wall covering provided in claim 1 in which said panel segmentsare secured to the outside walls of the building and the inside walls ofsaid building or rooms and said panel segments are mounted on the insideand outside portions of the structural framework of the outside walls ofsaid building to form a building component system comprising a wallcovering system structure.

10. The wall covering provided in claim 1 in which said wall panelcomprises a series of segments joined at their top and bottom edges toform a segmented transparent wall panel having a channel shapedreceptacle area, a first top roller mechanism being attached at the topof said segmented wall panel and a second roller mechanism beingattached at the bottom of said segmented wall panel, a decorative designbearing web being attached to the roll of the second bottom rollermechanism and extending upwardly in said channel shaped receptacle areaand being connected to the roll on the first top roller mechanism, adrive means being connected to a shaft on which the roll of the firsttop roller mechanism is mounted for shifting said web and changing thedesign of said panel and its exposed design bearing web located behindthe front segmented member of said segmented panel.

11. The wall covering provided in claim 1 wherein said wall coveringcomprises a plurality of segmented wall panels attached to a supportingbuilding structure, said segmented wall panels being positioned suchthat at least first and second segmented panels located on one pair ofopposite side edges of a third segmented panel, are attached inoverlapping relationship with said third segmented panel, one flange ofsaid third segmented panel engaging with a flange extending from theside wall member of said second segmented panel and the other flange ofsaid third segmented panel engaging with the flange extending from theside wall member of said first segmented panel.

12. The wall covering as provided in claim 1 wherein each side member ofsaid panel segment is angularly connected to a projecting flange elementand said side members are angularly connected to said front member onone pair of its opposite edges.

13. The wall covering as provided in claim 2 wherein said side membersare angularly connected to projecting flange elements and fasteningmeans hold said projecting flange elements to said wall and join theoverlapping and interlocking flange elements of said panel segment andof adjacent panel segments together.

14. The wall covering as provided in claim 1 in which said panelsegments are channel shaped and said panel segments are inter-connectedand overlapping with adjacent panel segments along their side wallsflanges by fastening means and said segmented panels serve as buildingcomponents.

15. The process for changing the display of a wall covering forbuildings which comprises the steps of mounting and assembling a seriesof wall panel segments on the wall structure of a building so that theyare joined along their vertical side wall edges and along the horizontaltop and bottom edges of their front transparent walls in order to form aweatherproof wall covering comprising a plurality of vertical joinedsegmented wall panels and thereafter mounting first roller mechanisms atthe top of the vertical segmented wall panels and mounting second rollermechanisms at the bottom of said panels and conveying the webs bearingthe decorative designs from the rolls of webs mounted on said secondbottom roller mechanisms in an upwardly direction through the hollowportions of said segmented panels and winding the ends of said designbearing webs around the rollers of said first top roller mechanismscomprising rollers on shafts mounted in supporting elements and rotatingthe rollers and their associated rolls of webs of said first top rollermechanisms by drive means connected to said shafts to wind up and move afirst predetermined length of webs bearing a first decorative designarea out of the vertical segmented panels and thus bring a secondpredetermined length of webs bearing a second different decorativedesign area into place behind the transparent front walls of saidsegmented panel from the rolls of webs mounted on said second bottomroller mechanisms and thus changing the display of said segmented wallpanels and their display bearing webs and thereby changing the displayof the wall covering and the walls of said building.

16. The process for changing the display of said wall covering asprovided in claim 15 wherein said process for changing said display ofsaid wall covering comprises the steps of changing the printed or drawndesign or illustrations of said panels and their webs and therebychanging the designs and illustrations of said wall covering and thewalls of said building.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 8/1908 Walzel 52-306 2/196-7Dawson et al. 52-688 ROBERT W. MICHELL, Primary Examiner L. R. OREMLAND,Assistant Examiner

